Monthly Archives: May 2013

Wedding fashion for under £50

31 Friday May 2013

Posted by in Fashion, Style

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Joy Dresses

One of the things I like best about being a Shopcade ambassador is discovering new brands.

Until recently, I’d never come across Joy The Store or 18 and East before – but what a discovery that was.

I’m currently in the market for a range of wedding outfits to kit me out for the gazillion weddings I have this year. Weddings don’t come particularly cheap, so I’m not keen on spending a fortune on a different dress each time. But now, with the help of trusty Shopcade, I don’t need to. Continue reading »

Packing, lists and the stress of parental suitcases

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Family, Travel

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Photo Credit: Photo Credit: ny156uk via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: Photo Credit: ny156uk via Compfight cc

Lists. I am drowning in lists.

On little pieces of scrunched up post-it notes. On bigger sheets of A4 paper. On the back of old envelopes and empty cereal boxes.

Lists fill every nook and cranny of my house. No sooner are they written, then they are hastily discarded for a fresh list; an updated stream of random items all jostling for a place in my head.

Remember how, pre-kids, packing meant chucking a few things in a bag or a box and being on your merry way? How is it possible that once kids come along – even if, like me, you only have one of them – the level of packing hysteria reaches such a giddy new height? Continue reading »

True friendship is…

27 Monday May 2013

Posted by in Motherhood, Relationships

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When you find a friend who plies you with champagne, while giving you a pedicure, then you know you have a friend for life.

This is exactly what happened this weekend, as I headed back to Bristol – the city where I was born and raised – to spend an afternoon and evening with my oldest buddy.

Not being a multi-millionaire, having a nanny or a horde of servants, it tends to be rare that I have my tea cooked for me, let alone champagne served to me. It was lovely. Continue reading »

The best dress ever. Fact.

27 Monday May 2013

Posted by in Baby and toddler products, Fashion, Play

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best dress everThis is the face of a toddler who has just discovered The Best Dress Ever.

When I was asked if I’d be interested in reviewing a tutu from the brand new Mrs W Tutus I knew there was only one answer. With an almost-three year old nurturing an obsession with dressing up, I knew she’d be keen.

Turns out, I couldn’t have been more right. Continue reading »

Dinner date

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by in Motherhood, Speech

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Newborn toes

Photo credit: CP Photography

Next month, my tiny baby will turn three years old. She is no longer a jumble of miniature fingernails and nappies. Where her head was once only covered in a soft down, rubbed bald where she slept, she now has loose curls and a fringe.

Those bendy little limbs are now long and strong. Any hint of soft pudge has disappeared, leaving a gangle of arms and legs that almost fill the bath when she lies down.

My baby is no longer a baby.

This week I had one of those moments. You know the one: it hits you like a jolt and you see your child as they are for the first time. Continue reading »

Festivals with a toddler – genius or pure madness?

21 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in Family, Travel

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Sunrise Festival

We’re going to our first festival together next weekend. It will either be a tremendous success or a huge failure. I am a little scared.

We’re heading to The Sunrise Festival near Frome, to grab our first taste of family festival fun. It looks amazing. But I am also a little scared. (Did I mention that I’m a little scared?)

Set against the backdrop of the stunning Thoulstone Park, The Sunrise Festival is billed as, “Another world”, incorporating a “micronation” of different spaces. Continue reading »

The art of doing nothing

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by in Motherhood, pampering

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Being idleHave you ever looked forward to sitting down at the end of a long day, only to find yourself getting a bit twitchy when you finally put your feet up? Maybe you’re one of those people who dreams about relaxing in a hot bath only to find yourself reaching for your phone when you get there. Do you struggle to watch a full TV programme without commenting on it via Twitter or Facebook?

I am all of the above.

I haven’t always been this way. In fact, I used to be pretty bloody good at switching off. Properly switching off I mean; shutting the laptop and turning down the volume on my phone. Pre-motherhood I thought a busy day was a 10 hour shift reporting on breaking news stories, with a rushed tea and only seven hours sleep rather than eight. Back in those days, I could quite easily walk through the door at the end of a long day and not think twice about soaking in a bath or watching a film. Continue reading »

When the mundane is full of win

19 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in Family

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On Friday morning, I tweeted this:

Tweet

As a weekend of mundane chores and To Do lists opened up before me like a yawning chasm of drudgery, I sighed over the days when weekends were different.

It’s over three years ago now – more like four really – when weekends meant late nights on dancefloors, drinks in the pub, shopping trips and lazy afternoons at the cinema. In the absence of swimming lessons or trips to the tip, Sundays were spent sleeping in until midday, followed by an impromptu pub lunch and an evening in front of a DVD.

These days, weekends are punctuated with a morning in a cold swimming pool, a flurry of housework and piles of dirty laundry. Continue reading »

Gatsby Style

16 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Fashion

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Gatsby header

I love glamour. Not fake tan, extensions, blinding white teeth glamour but proper, old-school glamour.

The sparkly brooches of days gone by, the tassles of flapper dresses, the cute little hats and feathers of the 1920s. This is probably why I’m a teensy bit excited about The Great Gatsby’s release – and have been using my role as ambassador of Shopcade to put together lists of my favourite Gatsby-esque finds.

I haven’t been to the cinema since – wait for it – before my daughter was born. She turns three years old at the end of June. That’s a LONG time not to watch a film on the big screen. But, until now, there’s not been a movie out that’s grabbed me in the way The Great Gatsby has. Continue reading »

Choosing happy

13 Monday May 2013

Posted by in Motherhood

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Choosing Happy

It’s funny how it’s so easy to fall into a default setting of “glum”. When the weather’s a bit rubbish and you’re tired and the dishes are piling up and you can’t afford that new dress, it can sometimes feel like the world is against you. Or is that just me?

We’re going through a bit of a stressful time in our household at the moment. Lots of change is afoot, which means a huge amount of juggling, not much sleep and more than the odd tense moment.

Although I relish change and get excited about new things, it’s difficult to let yourself get too carried away when you don’t know exactly how things will pan out. That lack of security has had me and The (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine doing that thing of, “Once this month is over, it’ll all be OK”. Basically, we’re wishing our lives away past this challenge, counting down the seconds of each day until things are more settled.

That is A Bad Thing. Continue reading »